1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for producing an emulsified filtrate of half-hulled rice (half-hulled rice milk), particularly to that for producing a nutritious emulsified drink made of half-hulled rice, which is easily digested and absorbed.
2. Background of the Art
Half-hulled rice contains abundant nutrients in embryo buds and other portions thereof and has been conventionally considered to be an excellent food product from the viewpoint of nutrition. However, the following problems are associated with half-hulled rice. Namely, since the skin of half-hulled rice is so hard and rigid that half-hulled rice cannot absorb water sufficiently, it is difficult to boil and soften half-hulled rice. Even if half-hulled rice is boiled with a pressure cooker, the skin of half-hulled rice remains so hard that half-hulled rice cannot be fully cooked. Thus, boiled half-hulled rice lacks a rich soft taste, in comparison with boiled polished rice. In addition, boiled half-hulled rice has a coarse texture and unpleasant taste, and cannot be thoroughly broken down, possibly resulting in indigestion. Therefore, it can cause gastroenteric trouble and an insufficient caloric intake. In order to solve these problems, "a process for producing processed half-hulled rice" has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-38188. According to this process, the skin of half-hulled rice is cracked to improve water absorbability of half-hulled rice, whereby the half-hulled rice is allowed to be easily boiled through the cracked skin. However, this process was not sufficient to fully boil half-hulled rice, so the above problems remain unsolved.